“Can we go to the beach again?” Noel’s intent gaze told her this was important to him.
“Do you like the beach?”
“Yes, Mummy and Daddy like the beach. Maybe we’ll find them there.”
“Ooh,”her dragon said.“Poor little boy. He’s missing his parents.”
“Max is trying his best to fill the gap for him.”
“But he can’t be here all the time,”her dragon said.“Lucky for Max and Noel, we came along when we did, that it was time for us to have an adventure.”
Sasha grinned.“Lucky for us, you mean.”
“We should go to the beach,”her dragon continued.“We might sense the barrier or at least discover what happened and how we ended up here.”
Sasha nodded her agreement to Noel’s request. “We can walk there this afternoon. But you must rest first. Max told me you need sleep.”
“Don’t need nap,” Noel said.
“You might not need one, but I will because it is a long walk there.”
Noel’s forehead scrunched as he stared at her. “You could fly.”
“No,” Sasha said. “We’ll walk since it’s good to exercise your legs.”
“Okay,” Noel said.
“Oh, dear,”Sasha said to her dragon.“I didn’t think he saw us that clearly. He must’ve watched our shift.”She finished weeding this small garden too and sat back on her heels with satisfaction. The front entrance appeared more welcoming already. Now that the weeds no longer choked the plants, the flowers would flourish.
“I’ve finished,” Noel declared.
“So have I,” Sasha replied. “Let’s go inside and do a few jobs before we make lunch.” Sasha stretched out a hand to Noel and helped him stand. “Make sure you pick up all your pencils and put them in the case. You don’t want Max to stand on them and break your favorite ones.”
“Noel doesn’t move fast,”her dragon said.
“No,”Sasha said with a frown.“I need to ask Mr. Google about that thing Noel has. What…ah, Down syndrome?”
“Do we have this on Perfume Isle?”her dragon asked.“I have never heard a mention of the syndrome thingie.”
“Many dragon families would kill a child they considered deformed,”Sasha said.
“Noel has no deformities. He’s different,”her dragon snapped.
“Different but also the same as other children. He likes to do things and have fun. Loves the beach and misses his parents. He loves Max and is cautious with his grandparents.”
“Because he senses the tension between them and Max,”her dragon said.
The rest of the day passed agreeably. Sasha, with Noel’s help, cleaned the kitchen until it sparkled. While Noel colored butterflies, she asked Justine, The Smart Computer, many questions. With some pieces of kitchen equipment, she and her dragon experimented. They made lunch according to Max’s instructions, and after pinning up the butterflies in Noel’s room and reading an entertaining book with beautiful color illustrations, Noel had his sleep.
While Noel napped, she cleaned and dusted the room where she and Max had sat the previous night.
“Max is a fantastic kisser,”her dragon commented.
Sasha turned warm all over.“Yes.”
“We should do it again.”Her dragon fell silent until Sasha picked up a pile of books. Her dragon scooted up Sasha’s neck. “Kissing books! We need to read those books.”
Sasha, whose mind had strayed to Max and his manly muscles, jerked at the excitement radiating from her dragon. “What?”
